Thermo-mechanical damage behavior of the interface between hybrid alkali-resistant glass fiber-reinforced concrete and rock under high and variable temperature conditions

Abstract

Thermal-mechanical damage and deformation at the interface between shotcrete linings and the surrounding rock of tunnels under high-temperature and variable-temperature conditions are critical to the safe construction and operation of tunnel engineering. This study investigated the thermo-mechanical damage behavior of the composite interface between alkali-resistant glass fiber-reinforced concrete (ARGFRC) and granite, focusing on a plateau railway tunnel. Laboratory triaxial tests, laser scanning, XRD analysis, numerical simulations, and theoretical analyses were employed to investigate how different initial curing temperatures and joint roughness coefficient (JRC) influence interfacial damage behavior. The results indicate that an increase in interface roughness exacerbates the structural damage at the interface. At a JRC of 19.9 and a temperature of 70 °C, crack initiation in granite was notably restrained when the confining pressure rose from 7 MPa to 10 MPa. Roughness-induced stress distribution at the interface was notably altered, although this effect became less pronounced under high confining pressure conditions. Additionally, during high-temperature curing, thermal stress concentration at the tips of micro-convex protrusions on the granite surface induced microcracks in the adjacent ARGFRC matrix, followed by deformation. These findings provide practical guidelines for designing concrete support systems to ensure tunnel structural safety in high-altitude regions with harsh thermal environments.

Keywords

High and variable temperature / ARGFRC-granite / Interface / Thermo-mechanical coupling / Damage evolution

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Cong Zhang: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Zhen Xu: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Resources, Methodology. Shanyong Wang: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Investigation, Funding acquisition. Chong Shi: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology, Funding acquisition. Hui Wang: Project administration, Formal analysis. Yonggang Zhang: Project administration, Investigation. Guoqing Chen: Resources, Methodology.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52209130 and 52379100) and Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. ZR2024ME112).

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